To submit a response from the Council to Kent County Council’s Kent Family Hub Services Consultation, ahead of the 13 September 2023 deadline.

That the Council’s draft response to Kent County Council’s Kent Family Hub Services Consultation at Appendix A, be approved.

Earlier this year Kent County Council (KCC) ran the Community Services consultation www.kent.gov.uk/communityservicesconsultation. Proposals included a reduction in the number of buildings currently being used to deliver services for children, young people, and families. This could mean that some services will be delivered in alternative ways, including outreach or digital solutions. A decision was due to be made in July.

KCC state that early feedback has told them that there are concerns about:

• Accessibility: How easily can children, families, or young people get to a building?

• Belonging: How can children, young people and families feel they have their own space and identities in co-located buildings?

• Resources: How can access and storage of specialised resources be managed, and how might this affect what can be offered and from where?

• Special Educational Needs and Disability: How can factors such as location or group size be managed to ensure services are welcoming to all?

Feedback also included concerns around accessing services and the realities of ‘outreach’ provision.  This consultation is on the Family Hub service offer. KCC are encouraging respondents to consider “the Council’s proposals for buildings, in light of the information in this consultation about “what” we are proposing the Family Hub service offer will be.”  KCC will then review responses from the Family Hubs consultation before decisions are made to close buildings.

A decision on what services will be provided where is now planned to take place in winter 2023. A diagram of how both consultations work together from the KCC consultation document is shown below.

The Kent Family Hub Services Consultation was launched on the 19 July by KCC. It asks service users and organisations to consider possible delivery models for Family Hub Services. It also proposes a reduction in youth services across all districts.

Family Hubs are a national programme and propose bringing together a range of different services to provide the support needed to families and young people.

The Government has set out which services as a minimum must be delivered through Family Hubs. These are:

·  parent-infant relationships and mental health support for new parents

·  infant feeding support

·  parenting support

·  support with early language development and the home learning environment

·  support for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND)

·  safeguarding

Additionally, KCC have included in this consultation, proposals to stop funding youth provision run by non-KCC organisations due to financial pressures.  The affected activities in Maidstone are shown below.

To reduce the impact on vulnerable young people, KKC are proposing that any future commissioning would be aligned to education services that support children with SEND, reducing the overall saving being made.

KCC have also stated they will continue with youth provision run by KCC, which would remain a mix of activity at KCC centres and outreach locations. They also intend to develop community-based youth work by supporting existing or new local volunteer-led groups. They will develop services specifically for families of young people, targeting where there is greatest need.  However, no further information is provided on what this may look like.

Consultation document

The Consultation asks for comment on the following areas of the proposals.

·  Co-location of services

·  Outreach

·  The Family Hub model

·  Accessing Service online

The consultation documents do not provide details on how the proposals will be developed, nor provide a timeline.Little context has been provided on what the direct impact would be for Maidstone (or other districts), such as location of family hubs and services available as stated above this decision KCC state is planned for Winter 2023.

The draft consultation response at Appendix A states that the Council cannot adequately respond to the proposals, that will have such a significant impact on residents in Maidstone, as significant information is missing.

An assessment of the consultation process has also been included (in the draft response) as the engagement events being held for Maidstone are both at Sessions House which isn’t in line with the offer for other districts.

Recommendation - The Council’s Response

The impact of the proposals on Maidstone has not been properly evaluated and a response should be made to ensure that Maidstone residents have the access they need to vital community support services.

The main areas that the consultation response seeks to respond to and highlight are:

·  The detrimental impact of the closure of youth support services in Shepway and Parkwood on families in an area of high need and the wider impact on the community, other public sector services and the voluntary and community sector.

·  Concerns regarding Digital exclusion and the support needed in areas of high need to support the delivery of online services as part of the Family Hub model.

·  Insufficient detail on the Family Hub model in terms of possible locations for services which hinders the ability of services users and organisation to make a meaningful response.

·  Insufficient evidence on district level data in terms of need to be able to inform a robust Equalities Impact Assessment

·  The risks of lack of services due to reliance on volunteering and the knock-on impact this may have to the VCS.

Without further information the current proposals risks deepening existing inequalities in Maidstone and denying Maidstone residents access they need to vital community support services.

The preferred option was to submit a response and highlight the significant and detrimental impact of the proposal on Maidstone residents and vulnerable groups in Maidstone. This was recommended based upon the findings of the assessment of the proposals and the insights provided by Census and Health Inequality data.

The Communities, Leisure and Arts Policy Advisory Committee (CLA PAC) considered the response attached at appendix A to the report on the 5 September 2023, and supported its approval. Additional comments made by the CLA PAC have been incorporated into the response.  Councillors articulated that residents felt unheard and forgotten as a result of the consultation proposals.  The response has been amended to include the sentiments expressed by local residents.

Option 2 - That no response is submitted to the consultation.

Option 3 - To make an alternative recommendation which may include the addition of further points to include in the consultation response.